No. 1426 (Enemy Aircraft) Flight
'' |image= |caption=A Focke-Wulf Fw 190 and a Junkers Ju 88 of 1426 Flight undergoing maintenance by RAF ground crew at RAF Collyweston (February 1945) |nickname(s)=Rafwaffe |type=Enemy aircraft evaluation and demonstration |leader= |equipment=Messerschmitt Bf 109E-3/F-4/G-2/G-6/G-14 Messerschmitt Bf 110C-5 Focke-Wulf Fw 190A-4 Heinkel He 111H-3 Junkers Ju 88A-5/A-6/G-1/R-1/S-1 Henschel Hs 129B-1 Avro Anson I Airspeed Oxford II General Aircraft Monospar ST-25Lake, Alan. Flying Units of the RAF: The Ancestry, Formation and Disbandment of All Flying Units from 1912 (http://books.google.com/books?id=5P5oAAAACAAJ) 1 February 1999. Airlife. ISBN 978-1-84037-086-7. Page 88. |size= |establishment=21 Nov 1941 |fragmented=17 Jan 1945 |reformed=1 Jan 1956 (As Long Range Recon Unit) |destruction=31 Dec 1956 |notable conflicts=World War 2 |affiliation=Royal Air Force }} This entry is about the unit. For entries about the individual aircraft, please see the 'category page.'' '''No. 1426 (Enemy Aircraft) Flight RAF was a Royal Air Force flight formed during the Second World War to evaluate captured enemy aircraft and demonstrate their characteristics to other Allied units. Several aircraft on charge with the RAE Farnborough section were also used by this unit. The RAE facilities at Farnborough were utilized for the flight testing of German and Italian aircraft during the war. Many crash-landed airframes were brought to Farnborough for examination, testing and cannibalisation of spare parts to keep other airframes in serviceable condition. The main flight testing work was carried out by the Aerodynamics Flight of the Experimental Flying Department and the Wireless & Electrical Flight (W&EF), the latter responsible for evaluation and examination of radar-equipped aircraft later in the war. History No. 1426 (Enemy Aircraft) Flight The unit was established 21 November 1941Christopher, John. The Race for Hitler's X-Planes (The Mill, Gloucestershire: History Press, 2013), p.173. at RAF Duxford, made up of a small group of pilots who had previously been maintenance test pilots with No. 41 Group RAF.Brief History of The Rafwaffe (Flight 1426) - Sally Bennett (10 January 2006) People's War Attached at first to No. 12 Group RAF, its mission was to demonstrate captured types to Allied personnel and expose them to "the appearance, performance, and even the sound" of hostile types. Initially, it operated a Heinkel He 111H (Werk Nr 6853/AW177) shot down in Scotland in February 1940, a Messerschmitt Bf 109 captured during the Battle of France (Werk Nr 1304/AE479]) (turned over from the Air Fighting Development Unit), and a Junkers Ju 88A-5 (Werk Nr 6073/HM509). The Ju 88 was a more recent British acquisition after the pilot landed at night at RAF Chivenor in the belief it was an airfield in France - the crew had made a navigational error after being deceived by a Meacon.Weal, John. Ju 88 Kampfgeschwader on the Western Front (http://books.google.com/books?id=SXV6weY__6oC) 25 June 2000. Osprey Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84176-020-9. Page 70 A General Aircraft Monospar was also assigned to the unit for general communication tasks and collecting spare parts. The aircraft in the unit changed throughout the war as further later marques came into the RAF's hands in various ways, including capture by Allied troops, forced or mistaken landings by German pilots, and defections. The flight co-operated with the RAF Film Unit, for which the usual British markings were removed and original German restored. Aircraft were then passed to the AFDU at (RAF Duxford 1940-1943) where they were extensively tested before passing them on to the flight. Several aircraft were lost to crashes, or damaged and then cannibalized for spare parts. Others were shipped to America for further evaluation. In March 1943, the unit moved to RAF Collyweston. Beginning in early 1944, the flight made a round of U.S. Army Air Force bases in Britain. After D-Day, the perceived need for the flight declined.Christopher, p.173. The flight ceased operations at Collyweston on 17 January 1945.The Rafwaffe, Peter Gosling, February 2003, Flight Journal. reforming at RAF Tangmere on the same date, with unit codes EA, as the "Enemy Aircraft Flight" of the Central Fighter Establishment, which finally disbanded 31 December 1945.Christopher, p.174. Aircraft operated, 1941–1945 Axis Aircraft Note this list may be incomplete, and that not all Axis aircraft captured and allocated RAF serial numbers were flown by 1426 flight. Others were flown by the Air Fighting Development Unit (AFDU) and the Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE). Messerschmitt Bf 109 Focke-Wulf Fw 190 Junkers Ju 88 Other types Support Aircraft Support Aircraft operated by no. 1426 Flight RAF. Survivors Four of the aircraft operated by the flight still survive, Bf 109 E-3 DG200, Bf 109 G2 RN228 (known as 'Black 6'), Fiat CR42 BT474 and Ju 88R-1 PJ876. All are currently displayed at the Royal Air Force Museum London. See also * Kampfgeschwader 200 * Zirkus Rosarius, the Luftwaffe unit that test-flew captured Allied aircraft. * Allied Technical Air Intelligence Units, the Allied units that evaluated Japanese aircraftFlying Units of the RAF. Lake, Alan. 1999. p=175 References Category:Units